Save Our Neighborhood et al. v. Lishman, et. al. (2006) DJDAR 8335, #C049525
Decision: http://fsnews.findlaw.com/cases/ca/caapp4th/slip/2006/c049525.html
The 3rd District Court of Appeal ruled that the City of Placerville cannot use an “addendum” to a previous mitigated negative declaration where the earlier document described a different project. The City approved approved an addendum related to a 2004 project for a MND prepared for a similar project application in 1997, relying on Public Resources Code Section 21166 that allows use of an addendum to an earlier EIR or negative declaration where changes to a project do not raise substantial new environmental issues. The Court determined that the threshold question was whether it was “dealing with a change to a particular project or a new project all together” and found that the two projects were different, as they had different proponents, did not use the same drawings, and had some differences in layout. Although the differences in drawing and layout appeared minor, the differences were adequate for the Court to conclude the two projects were different projects.
